Quote:In 2000, the De Beers model changed,[19] due to factors such as the decision by producers in Russia, Canada and Australia, to distribute diamonds outside of the De Beers channel, thus effectively ending the monopoly.[6][18] Current major players in the diamond industry are the African producers Debswana and Namdeb, De Beers, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Lev Leviev, Harry Winston, and Alrosa.[20]
In November 2011 the Oppenheimer family sold the entirety of their 40% stake in De Beers to Anglo American thereby increasing Anglo American's ownership of the company to 85%.[21] The transaction was worth $5.1 billion in cash and ended the Oppenheimers' De Beers Dynasty's 80-year ownership in the world's largest diamond miner.[22]

I was unaware of this recent transaction. And monopolies are illegal in America but they were allowed to maintain a monopoly in order to inhibit competition driving the price of diamonds down. Along with the dissolution of the De Beers monopoly must have been some other amendment to inhibit competition between the major diamond players to avoid that price competition.

“Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley

Edit: I see you did say it could be pre 2000. My apologies for not reading carefully.
germanyt - any idea how old that article was that you referenced - it seemed like it must be kinda old? (Good argument technique, first destroy your opponent's source's credibility, then promote your own ) In the same wikipedia article that I mentioned:

Quote:Trading of rough diamonds takes place through the Diamond Trading Company via wholly owned and joint venture operations in South Africa (DTCSA), Botswana (DTCB), Namibia (NDTC) and the United Kingdom (DTC). The various DTCs sort, value and sell approximately 40%[28] of the world's rough diamonds by value.

Not that I know how old my so-great wikipedia article is

(11-01-2012 03:45 PM)TheBeardedDude Wrote: Along with the dissolution of the De Beers monopoly must have been some other amendment to inhibit competition between the major diamond players to avoid that price competition.

AFAIK the diamond price is not controlled now. Traded like any other commodity. And the world hasn't exploded. Who would have thought?

The quality of a diamond has always factored into its price, the 4 C's are nothing new. What I am talking about is some agreement to reduce competition among the distributors to ensure that one of them with a surplus of diamonds does not just release them all, flood the market and drop the prices.

“Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley

(12-01-2012 11:56 AM)TheBeardedDude Wrote: The quality of a diamond has always factored into its price, the 4 C's are nothing new. What I am talking about is some agreement to reduce competition among the distributors to ensure that one of them with a surplus of diamonds does not just release them all, flood the market and drop the prices.

This was my point too. DeBeers could easily kill the market but unloading a million carats of cut stones. Diamonds would be everywhere and thus, less valuable. There has to be something stopping them from doing this. Perhaps they do it on their own. But if other companies are gaining market share in this industry then something must be limiting the release.

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.”